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A helicopter and drones have joined the ongoing search for a murder suspect accused of stabbing a Craven County Sheriff’s deputy late Wednesday night.
Dominic Connelly, 24, is wanted on charges of murder, first-degree arson, vehicle theft, first-degree attempted murder, felony assault on law enforcement, causing serious injury and resisting a public officer.
“We will not stop,” Craven County Sheriff Corporal Kelly Cox said Thursday in a recorded statement addressed to Connelly. “We are asking you to end this peacefully now for your own safety and for the safety of the public and our officers.”
He urged Connelly to turn himself in.
“We are asking you to end this peacefully now for your own safety and for the safety of the public and our officers,” he said. “Do not make this situation worse.”
Cox also called on Craven County residents to be on their guard.
Connelly is considered as armed and dangerous and should not be approached if seen, he said.
Connelly is described as a white male, 5 feet 5 inches tall, 135 pounds, with blond hair and blue eyes. Deputies said he was last seen wearing dark clothing and running toward the Bailey Lane Apartments.
Craven County Schools closed Vanceboro Farm Life Elementary, West Craven Middle and West Craven High School for all students and staff on Thursday and announced that Friday would be a remote, asynchronous learning day.
On Oct. 29, a deputy encountered Connelly in the bathroom of a Bojangles at the corner of Dawson Lane and Highway 43 in Vanceboro, North Carolina, according to a release. Connelly stabbed the deputy with a knife, officials said, before running off toward the Bailey Lane Apartments behind the Bojangles.
The sheriff’s office said they were initially looking for Connelly in connection to the death of his grandmother, Patricia Lopedote, 72, on Oct. 25.
Lopedote’s body was found inside a burning home on N.C. 101 Highway in Havelock, North Carolina, investigators said.
Authorities said Connelly set the fire and took off in Lopedote’s vehicle, which was found unoccupied in a New Bern, N.C., parking lot on Pine Tree Drive on Oct. 28.
Anyone with information on Connelly’s whereabouts is asked to call Craven County Sheriff’s Office at 252-636-6620, Craven County Communications at 252-633-2357, or submit an anonymous tip to the Craven County Crime Stoppers app at p3tips.com/986. Crime Stoppers is offering a reward for information leading to Connelly’s arrest.
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Justin Pryor, Caroline King
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